Threshold
by Simone Robinson
Summary: "-Therefore they follow me. When I make a mistake, they suffer for it.I promised myself that I would always be there, suffering along with them.-" What does it take to break someone? How long can you hold out before you shatter?
1. Chapter 1

**T **h r e s h o l d

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**Leonardo**

I have been charged with leading my brothers. They follow my orders without question, at least on the most fundamental level. Therefore they follow me. When I make a mistake, they suffer for it.

But I promised myself that I would always be there, suffering along with them.

I can't remember how it happened. One moment we were winning the fight, the next, we're stuffed into the back of a van. It must have been my fault. I didn't see _something._ Something important. I don't know what.

Things were blurry. Hazy.

But it doesn't matter. Not now. Not yet. When we're out of here. Alive, safe. Maybe then.

What's important is getting the heck out of here. Getting _all _of us out of here.

I can feel my brothers in the van along side me, though I can't see anything. The light is dim, almost none existent. It's pasty and flickering as we pass streetlight after streetlight.

On.

_Off._

On.

_Off._

I think it will drive me insane soon, but I can't be sure.

I think it was a tranquilizer dart, the thing that they used to knock me out. My brothers too. What else could it have been? It's hard enough to knock one of us out, to catch one of us off guard. But all of us? Maybe a gas. Odorless? My head is foggy, like someone wrapped a thick blanket around my senses. The back of this van smells stale though, like over-cooked meat and something else, brandy, I think.

On.

_Off._

On.

_Off._

I haven't been awake long. It's was cold and my shell feels bare without the weight of my Katana's.

They must have taken them. I wrap my arms around myself and slump back against the cold, steel walls. Just a moment. Just one moment. My eyes are sliding shut. I can feel my body giving in to the urge to just _rest,_ for a second, for a moment, when I heard one of my brothers groan softly.

_Mikey._

I don't move from my position. I barely have the strength to sit up-right. Whatever they did to me, whatever the used on us, it's taking its toll. The adrenaline, the spike energy is crashing fast. Like someone decided to fuck me fast and hard and then just throw me aside. Not that I'd know anything about that. I've only ever been screwed over by life. My thoughts are all messed up now. I shouldn't be thinking about things like that in a place like this. In a situation this dangerous.

I feel like crap.

I have been since I came round. And the pain isn't helping.

"Bro…" I mutter, "Hey, Mikey, you awake?"

"Hmm …Wha…?"

Relief bubbles in my chest at the reply. Mikey sounds dazed but the pain that I expect to hear, lacing his words, is missing. And for that, I am thankful.

"Mikey-"

"Leo?" I can hear him scrambling up, just a little way away from me, "Leo, what happened?"

There's an edge to his voice.

"It's fine." I mutter. I sound too weak. Vulnerable. I can't let Mikey hear that in his leader. In his older brother. Have to set an example. Always have to set an example. Be the strong one. I clear my throat, "We were knocked out and dumped in here. But if you're awake now; Don and Raph shouldn't be asleep for too much longer either." I can hear that I'm rambling, answering more that he asked. But I think I need to reassure myself, hear my own voice. It feels weird. I sound weird.

Mikey seems satisfies though, because the next moment, he's prattling on again, "You okay?"

"Yeah." I grit my teeth, "I'm fine."

On.

_Off._

On.

_Off._

I can see his face, in the flickering lights, if I squint hard enough. But it's too brief to catch anything and I can feel the nausea starting to set in.

I look away.

"Leo." His voice is almost a whisper, "Do you think we're gonna be able to get outta this?"

I bite back a sigh, "We've been in worse situations before, Mikey, we always pull through."

"I didn't ask about before. I asked about now."

"Yes Mike. We'll be fine."

When he speaks again, he sounds tense, "Okay."

It's quiet again, and it's not like Mikey but I'm too exhausted to really care. Man... I'm a terrible brother. But I'm just so tired. My eyes are starting to shut and it's not long before I fall asleep.

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**What did you think?**


	2. Chapter 2

**T **h r e s h o l d

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**Michelangelo**

"Leo?"

He doesn't answer. It's quiet. Way, way too quiet. I've always hated the dark, and the things that the dark hides and the monsters under the bed, and everywhere in the whole damn world because we're freaks according to them. Them.

I think Leo's asleep. He was sounding slurred, earlier on. It worries me that Leonardo can sound like that. Scares me.

I can feel aches in my body, starting from the base of my skull to my legs, in red, itchy waves.

Donnie and Raph. They must be feeling this too, or at least, they will be as soon as they woke up.

I creep closer to them, feeling my way. I lay my hands on their shoulders, their shells, checking for injures as best I can. After a while I figure out who is who. I can feel that scar at the base of Raphael's neck.

Donatello is obvious after that.

Raph has a bump on his head and a few bruises and scrapes, nothing serious. Donnie is similar; his wrist is slightly swollen though, but not too bad so he's probably just sprained it.

Remember what Don taught you. If anything ever happened to them. Stay calm. They're fine, Mikey. Fine.

After assuring myself that they would live, I crawl back to the corner of the van and slump against the wall.

They're okay. It's fine.

Then why is dread, sticky and bitter, rising to my throat?

***0***

**Raphael**

Man…what hit me? Geeze, my freakin' _head_.

I force my eyes open, my stomach turning and twisting into knots. I can barely see a thing. The hell are my lids so heavy? Drugged? Feels like it. Like when those tech ninja got to me and Case, and I woke to Hun's ugly mug. Least I knew where I was that time. Now all I can see are the little patches of light as they blast through the windows.

We're moving.

I push myself up, my arms shaking with the sheer effort. It shouldn't be this hard.

I feel like a freaking refugee, shoved in the back of a cart to get to a new country. A country with the promise of salvation, but really, it's just the place where worse crap is waiting for me.

"Raph. You awake, bro?"

"Mike?"

"Yep."

"Mikey?" I feel behind me. A wall. I lean against it, "What the hell's going on here?"

I hear him sigh, "No idea."

"Is Leo here?"

"Yes, he's here." Leo's tone is dry, grim almost.

"Damn it." I rub a hand over my head, "Donnie?"

"Still drugged." Leo supplies, "Some kind of gas while we were fighting."

I don't answer for a moment, "So ya know where we are?"

"The back of a van?" Leo almost laughs, but sighs at the mast minute, "All we know. They stripped our weapons though."

My hands fly to my belt. Just like Leo said. Nothing there.

"So now what?"

"We wait." Mikey's voice is hushed, serious and I grit my teeth. Not even five minutes and things were already starting to go to heck. Figures.

I sigh and leaned back on the cold metal, shaking my head. I hate waiting. Hate it with a burning passion. Now it was the only thing we could do. I could already feel the buzz in my muscles, the aching need to just _move_.

"This is bullshit."

And for once, Leo doesn't comment on my wording.

***0***

I was half asleep. Didn't realize it till Donnie started to wake up. He made this little, half-groaning sounds and sat up.

"Ouch."

I could almost sense him looking around. Could imagine the disorientation, the confusion in his eyes. The way he scanned every possible little detail before loosing his cool.

Better give him some hard, cold facts then. I reached out and touched his arm. I try not to startle him, but I managing to do it anyway. Always do. He gave a weird, yelping sound and reached behind his back where his Bo normally rested.

"Calm down, braniac."

_Mikey, Leo, feel free to jump in anytime here. Leave me to deal with the panicked brother why don't you._

"What? Raph?" His breathing hitches but I can hear the stain. The forced calm, "Where are we? Where are Mikey and Leo? What happened and where is my Bo?"

Resorting to facts in order to keep a cool head. Nice, "We're in da back of some van." Start with the drop-dead obvious, "Mikey and Leo are right here, we were attacked and all our weapons got taken."

Even in the dark I could tell that he was staring at me. Feel his eyes on me. I always hated that. How he could look right through you. Worse than Leo, "Shell…"

Doesn't sound like it's coming back to him though. He sounds vague. Out of it. Donnie should never sound like that.

I say nothing.

"Is anyone seriously hurt?" Don asked

Mikey finally speaks, "No. Your wrist is a bit messed up. Raph was hit on the head so nothing important lost there." I ignore the jab, "I'm fine. Couple of scrapes. Dunno about Leo though. He says he's fine. Passed out just after Raph did, though. He seemed pretty tied."

We lapse into silence.

Mikey and Don. My younger brothers. 'S a burden… knowing you couldn't do dick to protect them in the end. Never can. Leo went though that whole funk because of it. Not surprised.

Someone gets injured, who gets blamed? The one in charge. The one in charge is too stubborn to pass the blame where it's due.

Responsibilities. Older brothers.

Gotta talk to Leo about this when we get outta here.

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** What did you think?**


	3. Chapter 3

**T**h r e s h o l d

* * *

**Donatello**

"Leo, you awake?" Mikey's voice is soft. Timid almost and I have to strain to hear him.

It takes Leo a while to answer. When he finally does, he sounds drained. Not exhausted anymore, just so very, very drained. I know how that feels, "Yeah, Mikey, I'm awake…"

"Don's awake too."

"Donnie?"

"Yep." I smile even though I know he can't see.

"Right…" Leo clears his throat and I can picture him going into leader mode, "So is everyone okay?"

Me and Mikey answer in the positive, and even Raph consents to a muttered reply, "Leo are ya really expecting an answer for that one?"

Leonardo doesn't answer, but I have a feeling he's glaring daggers. Or maybe not. We're all too tired. From the gas or the fight. I don't know which. Maybe a bit of both,

"So…" Mikey pipes up, "Any ideas?"

Mikey never gets an answer though because at that moment the van jerks to a stop. I'm tense. Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

When the doors are flung open, I feel blinded. I can smell the stench of something being released into the air. Something almost familiar. A gas. I try not to breath but it's already much too late.

***0***

**Leonardo**

I open my eyes slowly, blinking at the darkness that once again surrounds me.

I can see the flickering of a candle. The shadows bounce off the ceiling. I'm staring up at the ceiling. It's grungy, like I'd expect a dirty motel room to look. Not that I've seen much of dirty motel rooms.

My hands are bound together though. With rope. Which is a novelty. Too used to Utrom technology by now.

I squint, struggling to my feet and trying to ignore the fact that this gas has knocked me for a loop every time thus far. As soon as I'm up, my eyes are drawn to the candle, sitting flickering in the middle of the room. Flickering and flickering.

Who's watching the candle?

Who's watching me?

I scan the room.

A girl. There. In the very corner. She's standing just outside the circle of light, her hands clasped together. I can't make out much. She's wearing rags, and she's pale, but other than that, I can't say.

Was she the one guarding me? Keeping me captive?

The answer comes swiftly. No.

Her eyes are kept down and when she starts to move towards me, I feel no malice. No evil intent. Of course. I could be wrong. I've been wrong before.

So I wait for her to attack.

But she just picks up the candle, not even flinching as the hot wax spills onto her hands, gestures to me, and walks away.

So I'm just supposed to follow her?

She seems to think I will.

Kind of unnerving. It doesn't faze me, but there is almost a sense of long-past routines, worked into the walls, into the floor. This place all but reeks of it. Reeks of a lot of other things too, but I'm not going into that.

I run my hands over the walls. The room is small, but if I missed anything I'll pick it up now.

There's nothing. No other doors. No windows. And the walls are sticky, The kind of sticky you get on the kitchen walls, when you've cooked without an extraction fan one too many times. We only got one of those a few years ago, when Donnie finally salvaged the parts he needed. So I know all about that fatty, sticky feeling.

But why is it here?

But I follow her anyway, because there's no where else to go. Escape is not an option until I've located my brothers. So we walk down the damp, miff corridor that smells like rancid fish.

After a few minutes, she stops.

It takes me a second too long to notice the men who have joined us. I curse the drugs in my system, feeling rough hands grab me and push me along, forcing me into a cell of some kind. It's hazy. Surreal. Maybe this is just one huge messed up dream, because this is just fantastic. No. Not really. The drugs haven't pushed me quite that far yet. I wonder about Mikey. About Don and Raph.

I fall to my knees as they shoved me into the darkness. The doors bang shut and there is the sound of padlocks and bolts being drawn.

"Brilliant…" I don't know why I felt the need to say that aloud. I just did. Venting. Turns out it was helpful after all.

"Leo?"

I am scary-relieved to hear Raph's voice. It means that at least one of my brothers is here, safe where I can watch them and stop any crazy stints from either parties.

Also. It's so damn good not to be here alone.

"Raph? Where are you?"

I hear him shift and I slowly get to my feet, making my way over to where the sound came from. My foot connects with something and I loose my balance, falling onto him.

"Graceful" Raph heaves me off him. I still blame the drugs for this.

"Urgh. Sorry."

"S'fine." He mutters, shifting into an upright position.

I settle down against the wall where he had been sitting. "So any idea where we are?"

I hear Raph sigh, "No. And before ya ask I don't know where Mikey and Don are either."

I feel my heart race with concern for my younger brothers. I pray they have been put in a cell like us. Nothing worse. Because I have enough faith in humanity's abilities to know the kind of sick things they can come up with. I flex my wrists, testing the ropes, but they held firm.

My eyes are slowly getting use to the pressing darkness in the room and I can make out the shape of my brother slumped against the wall as I scan the room. I reach out to get his attention laying my hand on his shoulder. My hand makes contact with a wet, sticky substance and I frown into the darkness. I move so that I am in front of my brother, staring at him in the poor light.

"Raph…what happened?"

He chuckles softly, "Whatcha think? I didn't go peacefully."

I shake my head, "Are you very hurt?"

"Nah, nothin' major."

I nod, gritting my teeth, biting my tongue, and returned to my spot against the wall.

One day, something's going to go wrong. And all those injuries we've got will seem like nothing. And Raph just doesn't seem to understand. Maybe he does, and just can't stop. Idiot. Don't know what I would do if I ever lost him.

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**So what did you think?**


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